


What Goes Bump in the Night

by BlueBird_1323



Series: Elemental Master Escapades [2]
Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Bisexual Female Character, Chamille is Afraid of the Dark, Chamille is a Little Shit, Chamille is bi but that also isn’t plot relevant, Gen, Ghosts, Humor, Lesbian Character, Mystery, Power Outage, Rated T for language, Swearing, The Relationship Isn’t the Plot, Tox is a lesbian but that isn’t plot relevant, Two Connecting Plots, some horror elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-14 21:01:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28926969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueBird_1323/pseuds/BlueBird_1323
Summary: The elemental masters decided to hang out and have a party, as much as Neuro refused to call it that, However things start to take a turn to the weird when Tox, Neuro, and Griffin leave to get some drinks. When the power goes out, chaos ensues.While that occurs at the house, the three other elemental masters have some vehicle trouble when returning back.
Relationships: Chamille/Tox (Ninjago)
Series: Elemental Master Escapades [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2121546
Comments: 16
Kudos: 21





	1. In the Beginning, There Was Light... for a Few Minutes

It was an average, late summer evening for the elemental masters. Well, as average as you can get for a group of adults with elemental powers. And as average as you can get of said group hanging out and getting slightly rowdy. However, the night was cool and calm, with the quiet chirping of crickets filling the still air. The elemental masters had gathered at one of their houses for one of their usual little meetups, though this one was much more relaxed than others in the past.

“Ugh...” Chamille groaned, stretching out on the couch. “Karlof has been taking forever to get those snack things from downstairs. You sure he isn’t, like, dead or something?”

“You have very little patience, Chamille.” Gravis stated calmly. He and Jacob were sat on the floor — well, Jacob was, Gravis was hovering a few inches off the ground — playing some modified board game. “Jacob, you rolled a two.”

“Darn.” The smaller man frowned, finding his piece and moving it forward. “That’s like the fifth low number I’ve gotten in a row!”

Chamille sneered and stuck out her tongue once Gravis turned his head, quickly looking over his shoulder to the game. She smirked. “Ay Jacob, Gravis is cheating, you actually rolled a five.” Gravis quickly turned back to face Chamille, glaring.

“I have done no such thing—“

“Gravis, you promised me you’d tell me what I got!” Jacob whined, though obviously wasn’t too worked up about it judging by his tone. “Shade! Is Gravis lying?”

“Jacob, why would I lie to you?” Gravis demanded. Shade sighed heavily from where he sat, on the other side of the room, and rolled his eyes.

“Sometimes I really regret knowing you all.” He said as he passively got up to look at the board. “You got a two, like Gravis said.” Shade took a moment to stare at the three of them after approaching. “Jacob, you really took _Chamille’s_ word over Gravis’?”

The argument that was beginning grow in between them was cut off short by a loud and heavy, metallic sounding crash from the basement. Chamille jumped, sitting up instantly in her spot, her formerly lazy but mischievous look now bright and aware.

“What the hell was that?” She asked, looking to Shade as if he had something to do with it. Shade’s brow furrowed.

“Like I’m supposed to know. It probably was—“ he cut himself off short as a nearby lamp flickered. It flickered once, twice, and soon all the lights in the room followed suite and flashed out. Darkness engulfed the room.

“Well shit.” Chamille whispered, followed by a forced laugh. “Uh... guess the power went out.”

“Oh _really?_ ” Gravis asked, voice prickling with annoyance. Instead of a usual retort from Chamille, the group fell into an unnatural silence. It was surprising how truly dark the house had become, with not even streetlights bringing in their usual dull glows.

Well, that group had been in silence until Shade spoke once again. “Who’s touching me? Jacob, I swear if that’s you—“

“Not me.” Jacob answered.

“Oh uh, haha...” Chamille let out a nervous laugh and quickly let go of Shade’s arm. “That’s me. Sorry. I uh... have I ever mentioned that I get a bit nervous in the dark?” Another spell of silence fell over them, which was promptly broken by Shade sighing.

“No, you haven’t.”

“Haha, well, at least you’re here! You can see in the dark, right?” Chamille asked.

“Mhm.”

“So like... you can watch out for us.” Chamille continued to urge, only faltering when Shade didn’t respond. “Right? You’ll do that?”

“I might.”

“Shade please I hate the dark—“

“Guys, what’s going on?” A dreary and nasally voice asked out into the dark room. Chamille shrieked, clutching back onto Shade with no shame.

“Who the fuck is that?!”

“Uh...” the voice trailed off slowly and took a pause before responding. “It’s Paleman? I uh... thought the voice gave it away.”

“Yeah yeah whatever you’re insecure about your voice, listen, Pale, _please_ do something about the lights.” Chamille snapped but the desperation in her voice was becoming more and more apparent with each word that fell out of her mouth. Paleman’s blank stare could’ve been felt from a mile away, even with him being invisible and the room being pitch black.

“... what do you want me to do?”

“I don’t know!” Chamille spat out, “You’re the master of light! You can do something!” She stammered for a few moments before continuing on. “Oh! Oh I know! Tox told me that you can glow, do that.”

“What?!” Paleman exclaimed, the life returning to his voice. “Why did she tell you that?”

“I dunno, we were talking and got onto weird topics, now shut it and _glow!_ ”

“Fine! Okay, okay!” Paleman responded, his voice matching Chamille’s in snappiness. He let out a heavy sigh and in a matter of seconds, the room was alight with a warm glow from Paleman’s body, his form’s outline glowing a bright white. “There, you happy?” He asked with an over exaggerated shrug.

Chamille, who had both of her hands clamped tightly onto Shade’s arm, went blank for a moment before putting on an overly sweet smile. “Mhm! Thanks, you’re so sweet.”

“ _Uh huh._ ”

Shade yanked his arm out of Chamille’s grip and rubbed it tenderly before focusing his attention onto the now glowing figure in the middle of the room. “Also, quick question, when did you get here?”

“I was about to ask that myself.” Gravis added, resting his chin on his hand.

“I was here the entire time.” Paleman said quietly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“You were? I never heard you once!” Jacob frowned. “Where were you?”

“I uh...” he paused again, looking away from the group. “I was upstairs. Sleeping. Neuro let me stay here after some stuff that happened last night.”

Chamille’s expression melted into a smirk when she heard that, leaning against the arm of the couch. “Oh? What happened? Spill.”

“No. And before you ask, pervert, it wasn’t anything like that either.” Pale grumbled, crossing his arms tightly across his chest. “Let’s drop it.”

Chamille had begun to open her mouth again when Gravis, luckily, cut her off before she could go on. “Alright, we will. Until we can figure out this power situation, and until Neuro, Tox, and Griffin come back, I will find some candles.”

—————————————————————————————

“I knew we shouldn’t have left, but _no_ , both of you wanted something else to drink besides tea and water.” Neuro huffed, pulling his clothes closer to his body. “And it’s cold.”

“You think _you’re_ cold?” Tox asked incredulously, jacking up Neuro’s old car to take a look at the wheel. “I’m basically wearing a crop top!”

Neuro, Tox, and Griffin had gone out on the demands of the others to pick up a few things from the store. However, what both Tox and Griffin had not expected was the nearest store to be miles away. And something that the group of three hadn’t expected all together was the car both running out of gas and the back wheel going flat. And now they stood on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere with only the moonlight illuminating the scene. Tox was doing her best to figure out if the tire was saveable with an air pump and duct tape.

It wasn’t.

“Awh man, now we’re really gonna be late to the party!” Griffin exclaimed. “Everyone’s gonna be worried!”

“Firstly, it’s not a party.” Neuro corrected. “And secondly, this will turn out alright.”

“Then why’re you so uptight?” Griffin prodded. Neuro sighed, rubbing his temples.

“Because Chamille has been left unsupervised in my house, and I never wanted to go out in the first place.”

“Well, Gravis is there! He’s responsible.” Griffin smiled hopefully.

“And you think he can stop Chamille out of all people?”

“Well...” Griffin paused before having a cheeky smile grow on his face. “He can levitate her or somethin’!”

“That is an absolute disaster waiting to happen—“

“I hate to interrupt your _lovely_ conversation,” Tox sighed while straightening up, “but there’s no way I can fix this tire. We gotta replace it. Got a spare?” Neuro’s face fell at that, and a slight hue of pink covered his cheeks. Tox’s eyes narrowed. “Neuro—“

“Wait!” Griffin wheezed, pointing at the embarrassed older man. “You’re telling me that _the_ master of the mind doesn’t carry around a spare tire in his car?” He didn’t even wait for Neuro to respond before bursting into laughter. Neuro looked away in an instant, though glared every now and then at Turner. Tox let out a quick snicker.

“Listen, I wasn’t- ... I wasn’t expecting this to happen.”

“You still don’t have one! Hah!”

“You both will speak of this to no one.”

“Oh yes we will!” Griffin cackled, leaning against the side of the car in a desperate attempt to catch his breath. Tox smirked but rolled her eyes.

“Listen, we can figure this out later. For now we gotta find a spare tire and gas. Griffin?”

“Yeah?” He managed to get out through his fit of giggles.

“Can you run back to that gas station we saw awhile back and get some gas and try to find a tire? Or like, run to the gas station, then go to Neuro’s house for the tire, and come back?” Tox asked. Griffin fought through his laughter to answer, nodding slowly.

“Yeah, yeah I can do that. Better pay me back though.”

“Of course. Neuro and I can split it.” Tox added with a smile. Neuro quickly whipped around, a look of both bafflement and confusion on his face. 

“Excuse me?! I didn’t agree to this!”

“You just did.” Tox smiled. “C’mon, I’m gonna fix it, and Griffin is gonna do his part, you do yours.”

Neuro sputtered for a few moments before sighing in defeat, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Fine. I suppose the quicker that this is done, the quicker we can get back to my house and stop Chamille and the others from tearing it apart.”


	2. There’s Something in the Basement...

Chamille, Shade, Paleman, Gravis, and Jacob now sat in the dimly — but warmly — lit living room of Neuro’s house. Gravis, with the aid of Paleman later on, had found a few candles and lanterns along with some matches, and illuminated the one room they agreed to stay in. Paleman finally got to stop glowing and was more than content with that result. 

The group sat where they could, with the exception of the hovering Gravis, and the chilly atmosphere that appeared just as the lights went out had faded away slowly but surely. In reality, it was more so Chamille’s mood changing that brightened the room. Figuratively, of course.

Paleman was awkwardly sandwiched between the arm of the couch and Shade, and shifted as best as he could to at least get a little more space without touching the man next to him. Geez, he hated being touched...

“So um,” he began in an attempt to distract himself, “do you guys know how the power went out?”

“Not really.” Jacob shrugged. “All I know was that me and Gravis were playing a game, Chamille caused some issues—“

“Oh c’mon!” Chamille laughed. “I was just having a little fun.”

“Anyway.” Jacob said after a blank pause. “Shade fixed the issue, and all of a sudden there was some sorta crash from the basement.”

“Oh. That must’ve been what woke me up.” Paleman concluded, nodding.

“Speaking of...” Chamille started with a smirk. Shade rolled his eyes and tried to scoot away from her, only squishing Paleman more against the couch. She tried to lean across Shade to look at Pale. “Why _were_ you sleeping in Neuro’s house?”

“Chamille. He has said he doesn’t want to talk about it. We must respect his wishes.” Gravis warned. Chamille only rolled her eyes in response, falling back into her spot.

“Ugh. Fine.” Before crossing her arms and looking away. The uncomfortable, chilly atmosphere creeped it’s way back into the group, seemingly crawling out of the nearby, flickering shadows. It felt almost suffocating.

Paleman quickly squeezed out of his seat and stood up, desperate to leave the atmosphere. “I’ll uh... go check it out. Since I can see, and-... and stuff.” Chamille turned her head and focused on him, an uncanny and unfamiliar look of fear and concern on her face.

“You sure you wanna do that?” She asked, her voice quiet. Paleman inched back a little, nodding.

“Yeah. I mean, why wouldn’t I?”

A loud, rumbling scream of terror erupted from the basement as soon as Paleman finished his sentence. Everyone jumped, Chamille let out a yelp and went clambering for Shade’s arm again. Paleman whipped around to face the door leading to downstairs and scrambled back to couch. Gravis quickly got to his feet, standing in between the group and the stairs, and Jacob grabbed his sitar, brandishing it in front of himself.

Quick but heavy footsteps like lead came thudding up the stairs, and the door slammed open. No one had any time to react before a massive, shadowy figure emerged from the staircase and rushed at the group, it’s features being illuminated in the candle and lantern light.

“ _Karlof?!_ ” Chamille exclaimed, straightening up. “You fucking asshole! You think scaring us is funny?!”

Surely enough, Karlof now stood in front of them, breathing heavily and with panic spread across his face. He took a moment to look at them all before going back to the staircase, slamming the door leading to it shut and locking it as best as he could. He grabbed a nearby chair in his frenzy, placing it under the door handle.

Shade was the one to regain his cool first, yanking his arm away from Chamille and standing up, approaching Karlof cautiously. “What’s going on?”

Karlof let out a shaky huff, turning to Shade and quickly walking into the illuminated room. Shade took a few steps back to keep a safe distance. When Karlof was upset, it was like trying to approach an angry rhino. Except the rhino had the ability to turn into solid metal. And the rhino had issues understanding language at times.

“In the basement!” Karlof breathed out, taking a quick glance over his shoulder. Shade paused, looking around Karlof for a moment to look at the door.

“... yeah?”

“Do _not_ go down there.” Karlof stated firmly, moving past Shade and sitting down on the couch, easily taking up the place that Shade and Paleman were squeezed into. The couch let out a low creak under his weight.

“Are you afraid of the dark as well?” Gravis snidely remarked, sending a quick glance to Chamille. She narrowed her eyes and mouthed the words ‘ _shut it_ ’.

“No. No, is... is not the dark.” Karlof sighed, looking up. “Karlof is not afraid of puny shadows.” There was a small pause before he added “No offense.”

“None taken.” Shade said.

“But... in basement, is not just dark. Is not just shadows.” He let out a shaky breath, looking to his feet once again. “There’s... there’s...”

“There’s um...” Paleman gulped. “There’s what?”

“A _ghost._

A deathly silence smothered the room like a heavy blanket.

“... a fucking ghost?” 

Well, there was silence until Chamille spoke.

“Karlof is not joking!” He yelled, extending his hand towards the basement door. “Karlof knows what is down there! There Karlof was, getting snack from fridge-freezer, when cloud of... of darkness appeared in front of Karlof’s eyes! Tried to punch it, but... hit the fuse box instead.” He trailed off, embarrassment creeping into his voice.

“Oh. So that’s why the power went out.” Jacob stated. “And that explains the noise earlier.”

“But is not all!” Karlof added. “Cloud of darkness, it laughed at Karlof!”

“The ghost... laughed at you?” Chamille asked disingenuously, her expression falling flat.

“Yes!” Karlof reiterated while giving a single nod. Shade raised his eyebrow, looking in between Karlof and the door once. He sighed and placed a hand on his hip.

“Karlof, I’m not gonna make fun of you or anything, but just wondering... how is a closed door and a chair against said door going to stop a ghost?”

Karlof’s face fell, leaning to the side to look behind Shade and glancing back up at the master of shadow. He shrugged innocently.

—————————————————————————————

Griffin shoved the left over change into his pocket as he exited the gas station, hefting up the gas can from the ground. He was never a fan of these random little stores and places in the middle of nowhere, and it wasn’t because they were suspicious or anything. It was more so that it rarely was ever interesting. Sure, there was the rare occasion when something downright strange happened, or a crime was committed, but besides those occasions, Griffin didn’t like these types of places. 

Plus they always smelt weird.

He sighed and stretched his legs out a little as he prepared himself for the quick run back to Neuro and Tox, when his eyes were drawn a familiar face. He grinned, jogging over to the parking lot — which was actual jogging, not his use of speed — and dropping the gas can carefully onto the ground.

“Skylor!” He beamed, extending his arms out. “Didn’t expect to see you here!”

Skylor, who was just getting out of her car to walk into the gas station, paused and looked over with a confused look. However her confusion quickly turned into a warm smile once she recognized him.

“Griffin? What are you doing here?” She asked, sneaking a quick glance at the gas can. “And what are you doing with that? You don’t need to drive.”

“Ohh it’s funny story. So Neuro, Tox, and I were driving back to Neuro’s house when we ran outta gas, not to mention a tire deflated, so I’m the one running back and forth to help them.” Griffin said with a quick snicker. Skylor let out a short laugh, nodding.

“Got it. Good luck with that. I would ask if you need a drive back, but you know.” She smiled. Griffin took a quick moment to think.

“Well...” he smiled sheepishly, “I wouldn’t mind getting a drive back. I mean I could totally go by myself! But carrying things while running makes me tired.” Griffin gave a large grin. Skylor simply rolled her eyes in a playful manner but nodded.

“ _Sure_ Griffin. Hop in. I’ll be just a second in there anyways.” Skylor said and returned to walking the station, but quickly turned on her heels. “Oh and by the way, Bolobo is driving with me. He wanted to carpool to Neuro’s. Thought I should mention that before you get in.”

“Oh, alright!”

“And before you ask, he’s already sitting shotgun.”

“Shit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plot thickens...  
> But hope everyone is enjoying it thus far! Comments are always welcome :]


	3. Suspicion about Superstition

“Listen, I know Shade said he wasn’t going to make fun of you, but that doesn’t stop me from doing it. Karlof—“ Chamille took a pause from her pacing around the living room to turn towards the giant man, clapping her hands together, “you think there’s a fucking ghost here?!”

Karlof’s eyes were wide with confusion, and looked behind Chamille to Shade for support. Shade shook his head and sighed. Karlof looked back to Chamille and nodded once. “ _Yes._ ”

She stared at him blankly before scoffing. “You’re so stupid.”

Karlof did not take that lightly.

He immediately rose to his feet, easily towering over Chamille as he approached her. “Karlof is not ‘ _stupid_ ’.” He growled in a cold voice, leaning down to her face. “Karlof was aeronautical engineer in Metalonia. Be wise with words, little woman.”

“ _What_ did you just call me?” Chamille asked while squaring her shoulders, words dripping with venom

“Hey, hold on now...” Paleman cut in, raising his hand up slightly. Chamille and Karlof whipped their heads around in his direction. He quickly took a few steps backwards. “Listen, uh, we don’t need to fight.”

“I disagree.”

“Karlof disagrees as well.”

“Well...” he laughed nervously but quickly regained his composure, “I, um, I believe Karlof. Well, that ghosts exist. There might’ve been something else in the basement.”

“Hah, yes!” Karlof cheered. “Paleman is good friend!” Chamille glared instantly.

“You have got be joking. Not you too!”

“If I may add onto this—“ Gravis interrupted but Chamille was quick to shut him down.

“No, you can’t.”

He narrowed his eyes and annoyance flickered across his face for a moment, but continued on. “In defence of Karlof and Mr. Pale, they are not wrong to believe in ghosts. After all, the ninja did go against quite a few in the past.”

“Not to mention The Preeminent.” Jacob added.

“Yes, her as well. So needless to say, it isn’t unbelievable to say that there’s a ghost in the basement.” Gravis concluded with a knowing nod. Chamille stammered for a few moments before groaning and stomping back over to the couch, sitting down and crossing her arms over her chest.

“Fine. Whatever.”

“But anyways,” Paleman said after a small pause. “I’m going to go check out the fuse box. I might be able to fix it.”

“That’s cool!” Jacob smiled. “I didn’t know you were good with that kind of stuff.”

“Uh...” he paused, shrugging a little as he responded. “In a way, yeah. Even if I can’t fix it, I can probably figure out what exactly is wrong and then we can call someone.” He turned around in a smooth and fluid movement towards the basement door, but Karlof tightly grabbed onto Paleman’s arm and whipped him back around. His face was solemn and dark, his form stiff.

“Be careful, Paleman.” He spoke in a low and warning tone. “Do not let ghost get you.”

“I won’t.” He said with an uncomfortable smile, not that anyone would be able to see it, and carefully pried his arm out of Karlof’s large hand, turning cautiously back to the door to the stairs. 

There was an evident pause after Paleman had opened the door and stared down the staircase for what could’ve been a minute. The others observed him with both curiosity and concern, fascination even. Gravis spoke.

“Mr. Pale, are you alright?”

He jolted a little at first but regained his composure. “Yeah yeah I’m fine.” He said passively, waving his hand at them and trekking down the stairs. “I’ll let you guys know when I figure stuff out.”

A dull glow eventually made its way from the stairs and Pale’s footsteps got quieter and quieter as his light disappeared. Chamille let out a long sigh of relief, leaning back into the couch. “Hopefully he isn’t talking out of his ass and actually knows about this shit. He better figure this out.”

“Until then, we’ll just have to sit tight.” Shade sighed, leaning against the wall next to where Chamille sat.

“Sitting tight does not sound comfortable.” Karlof said quietly.

“Not literally, Karlof.”

—————————————————————————————

“The stars are really pretty out here, don’t you think?”

“Tox, get off the roof of my car.”

Neuro stood miserably on the side of the road, arms wrapped tightly around his body and shoulders scrunched up to his neck. Tox, on the other hand, lazed absentmindedly on the top of his car, holding back her growing smirk as she felt Neuro’s annoyance rise. She had climbed on top of the car carefully after she had fixed the wheel, with thanks to Griffin for getting the tire in the first place.

But Tox wasn’t wrong with what she said, the stars were beautiful. The one benefit from being stranded in the middle of nowhere late at night. The lands surrounding them were almost glowing in the light of the stars and the moon. 

Tox turned her head to face Neuro and playfully stuck out her tongue. “C’mon, relax you worrywart.”

“I can’t.” He sighed. “Plus, Griffin has been gone for an awfully long time.”

“Do you think something happened to him?”

“I hope not... but he can take care of himself. We’re elemental masters, after all.”

Tox snorted, covering her mouth. “ _Please_. We’re all about as responsible as a group of thirteen year olds. With superpowers.”

“There’s something that feels wrong about calling our elemental powers ‘ _superpowers_ ’.” Neuro fretted. Tox let out a small scoff mixed with a laugh.

“Now you’re just trying to finds things to worry about besides your car and Griffin. It’ll be okay.” Her features softened and she offered a gentle smile. “He’ll be fine.”

“Ah... you’re right.”

“You bet I am!” She laughed, sitting up and hopping off the car. “And if I’m not, and if something happened to Griffin, I promise you I’ll avenge his ass.”

“How comforting.”

Their conversation became drowned out as a car that had been driving down the road rolled to a halt. The window in the backseat rolled down and the always smiling face of Griffin popped out.

“Hey guys! Met up with Skylor and Bolobo at the gas station, and she offered to drive me here!”

“He said he would get tired while carrying the gas can.” Skylor called out. Griffin sputtered, whipping his head around.

“Not cool, Skylor! You snitch!”

“Only getting revenge for you constantly wanting to change the radio station.” She laughed. “Now come on, hop out.” 

Griffin let out a huff but quickly returned back to his cheery demeanour, getting out of the car and proudly holding out the gas can. “I got it, yo!”

Neuro smiled and nodded, fighting back a chuckle. “Indeed you have.”

The passenger window of the car rolled down and Skylor leaned past Bolobo to look at the group. “Hey Neuro, sorry about the car issues. But we’ll see you back at your house.”

“If this works out,” he paused to take a glance at Tox, who was already filling up the tank, “hopefully you will. Oh, and Skylor? Bolobo?”

“Yeah?”

“If you get there before we do, which is likely, can you make sure that Chamille hasn’t done anything... _severe?_ ” He asked, forcing a smile on his face. Skylor laughed quietly and nodded.

“We can do that. See ya there.”

With that, Skylor leaned back and rolled up the windows. The car hummed to life in a matter of seconds and continued down the long road back to Neuro’s house. Neuro, Tox, and Griffin watched them until they were out of sight, and even a bit after. The night became still once more, and the sounds of insects chirping filled the air.

“You sure are worried about Chamille.” Griffin said, nudging Neuro with his elbow. Neuro only shook his head and laughed, walking around to the driver’s side of the car.

“How can I not be? You know her.” He said, though there wasn’t as much tension in his voice as before.

“You know, as much as I love her, I can’t even make an argument there.” Tox laughed. “She’s trouble. I’m not gonna deny it.”

“Remember that time during that one party when she stole like all of our car keys?” Griffin asked with a playful grin while he wasted no time getting into the car.

Neuro cringed. “ _Ohh_ don’t remind me. I’ve already calmed myself down, don’t tell me about more reasons to worry about her.”


	4. Missing: Invisible Man

It was beginning to feel like forever since Paleman had gone down into the basement. Often when waiting is needed in dire situations, time goes by at a much slower pace. However, in this situation... it wasn’t just that.

Paleman had been in the basement and unresponsive to the group’s inquiries for at least fifteen minutes. Chamille had timed it.

Needless to say, everyone was becoming panicked. _Especially_ Karlof.

Karlof was now the one pacing across the living room, the furniture, candles, and lanterns shaking with every step he took. “The ghost got Paleman! What are we going to do?!” He dragged his hands down his face as his expression turned desperate. “This is Karlof’s fault! Karlof should have stopped Paleman from going!”

“I mean,” Jacob paused from idly strumming his sitar, “he could just be taking his time.”

“And not respond after this long?” Shade asked. “That isn’t like him, especially when he knows that people are worried about him.”

“Oh yeah. You have a point there.”

“I can’t stand this!” Chamille shouted, jumping to her feet. “I don’t believe that there’s a ghost here, but I don’t want to stay in a dark house for who knows how long.” She snatched up a lantern with ferocity, pushing past Karlof and marching over to the stairs. “He’s probably playing some sorta sick joke. He’s so unpredictable. I don’t understand how Tox is friends with him.”

“Aren’t you also friends with him? Due to your connection with Tox?” Gravis asked.

“We aren’t talking about that!” She snapped, not even looking back as she stood at the top of the stairs. Her lantern had little to no results on the abyss of black staring back at her from the basement. It was surprising how terrifying a simple staircase could look when a house had lost power, and honestly it would’ve been a bit funny if it weren’t for the fact that a man had just gone down there and hadn’t come back yet.

And also that Chamille _hated_ the dark.

All of her previous annoyance was quickly replaced by fear as the void stared back at her. She forced out a nervous laugh and turned to look at one person in particular. “Um... Shade, how about you go down there and check on him?”

“Absolutely not.” He stated firmly.

“Oh come _on_. You’re usually the realist here!” She exclaimed, quickly making her way back over into the living room. “Go check on him!”

“Not until we come up with a clearer plan.” He said with a roll of his eyes. “If something happened to him, which I doubt it, we shouldn’t run in there blind. No offense, Jacob.”

“None taken.”

“My point still stands.” Shade said with a small sigh. “We shouldn’t just run down there without a plan. If Pale got hurt by something—“

“A _ghost_.” Karlof interrupted in a harsh whisper.

“...hurt by a ghost,” Shade corrected but continued, “that means the ghost could hurt us. We would be dropping like flies if they took Paleman down so easily.”

Chamille narrowed her eyes into a vicious glare, eyeing Shade for a moment before spitting out, “I fucking hate it when you’re right.” Shade’s lips twitched into a small smirk. 

“How about we wait for just a bit longer.” Gravis said, walking to the center of the group. “I understand that we are all worried for our friend. I am as well. But we should wait for just a few more minutes, and in that period of time, we can come up with a plan if Mr. Pale doesn’t return. Does that sound good?”

The group let out varied amounts agreements and nods, and Karlof let out an audible sigh of relief mixed with a bit tension. The atmosphere had settled slightly, and while the nerves were still present, there was some sense of calm that had taken over for the most part.

The key word being _’was’_.

The handle on the front door began to shake.

Silence strangled the room. Slowly but surely, the group turned their heads to the door, not daring to make sound. The door handle shook a few more times, jerking around much more aggressively than before.

Karlof bolted faster than anyone had ever seen him move before, picking up Neuro’s couch with ease and slamming it against the front door, leaning against the wooden frame. The door creaked under the weight. He looked over his shoulder and whispered once again.

“ _The ghost brought reinforcements_.”

“Okay...” Chamille slowly said after a pause of silence, “that was fucking _terrifying_. Both the door _and_ how you picked up that couch.”

Shade opened and closed his mouth a few times before pinching the bridge of his nose. “Karlof, I-... I don’t think solid objects can stop ghosts. Plus, can’t it just go through the door anyway?”

Karlof stared blankly at Shade before turning back to the door. “Is better than nothing.”

—————————————————————————————

“Hm. That’s odd.” Neuro paused, rubbing his chin. “The door won’t open.”

“Have you tried the handle?” Griffin asked.

“Of course I have! What do you take me for? Stupid?”

“You did forget to have a spare tire in your own car.” Skylor added.

Well, both groups had made it to Neuro’s house around roughly the same time by chance, and had been more than happy to make it back inside. Especially Neuro, who had been fretting the entire ride back. However, a slight issue had come up.

Oddly enough, the door wouldn’t open.

Neuro sputtered as he whipped around to face Skylor, his cheeks red and placing his hands on his hips. “Please just drop that already!”

“Here, let me try.” Bolobo offered, walking up the stairs and taking a firm grasp on the door. The others watched him in an awkward and pensive silence.

“Is it opening?” Griffin asked after a few seconds.

“No.” He grunted, frustration growing. “I can try to grow some vines to open it.”

“Haha, well, let’s not get drastic here.” Neuro quickly cut in and placed his hand on Bolobo’s shoulder. “I do truly appreciate the offer.”

“So now what?” Tox asked, sitting atop Neuro’s car once again. Neuro cringed but forced himself to continue.

“Well... I am unsure at this point. It is... evident that those inside won’t open the door, so we may have to use the backdoor.” 

“Or...” A mischievous smile crossed onto Tox’s face and she hopped down, “we could break in.”

Neuro’s face went redder than a tomato and marched down the stairs, pointing his finger accusingly at Tox. “We will _not!_ This is still my house, and I do not want any sort of damages to be done to it! I also don’t want to pay for that either!” He took a moment to let out a long sigh, his voice dropping in volume and aggression. “Please. There is a much more logical way than breaking into my own home.”

Tox laughed gently and nodded before she began to walk around the side of the house. “Alright, alright. Now come on, we don’t want to waste any time.”

“Yeah!” Griffin smiled. “The quicker the better!” And zoomed ahead of everyone else.

As the group headed forwards with varying levels of enthusiasm, Skylor lingered on the porch. She observed the door for a moment, giving a halfhearted turn on the doorknob. It still didn’t budge. Leaning forward, she placed her ear against the door, focusing deeply on anything she could pick up. While the sounds of muffled voices were present, the words couldn’t be made out through the creaking and groaning of the wooden door. She pulled away and glanced to the window, where mellow light glowed through.

“...huh.” She murmured.

“Skylor!” A voice shouted from behind her. She jumped, turning around to be met with Griffin’s smiling face. “You coming?”

“Oh- yeah, I am. I was just thinking about something.” She replied, stepping down from the porch. Griffin zoomed away before she could make up another answer. With a sigh, Skylor looked back to the window and pressed her mouth into a thin line. Something just didn’t feel right to her about it all, but she pushed the thoughts away as she followed to where the others had gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buckle your seatbelts, folks! The story is going to get real interesting from now on  
> Also I hope everyone is enjoying it thus far! :) comments always welcome


	5. Ghosts and Housebreaking

Time continued to pass by at a pace much slower than anyone was comfortable with, even to the ever patience Gravis. Karlof had begun to shift more and more, Shade sent more side-eyed glances to the basement door, more incorrect notes were being strummed by Jacob. But most noticeable out of them all was Chamille. She paced around the room in silence, running her hands through her hair and just couldn’t manage to stay still longer than five seconds. When she did stop moving, she’d stare at that dreaded staircase with some hint of desperation in her eyes.

Five more minutes had passed.

“Chamille,” Gravis began in a cautious tone, “we will figure this out. I cannot promise a good outcome, but we will find out something by going down there.”

Chamille froze once she heard her name, glancing slightly over her shoulder as Gravis spoke. She let out a sigh and rolled her eyes, tightly wrapping her arms around her body and turning away from the group entirely.

“Chamille seems upset.” Karlof said quietly.

“Of course I’m upset!” She snapped, but still refused to look at them. “Why wouldn’t I be?!”

“Because you do not believe in ghosts.” Karlof retorted.

“Oh, will you shut up?!” Chamille exclaimed, voice cracking at the end of her sentence. She let out a shaky sigh as she sat down in the nearest chair, slouching over and resting her head in one hand. Karlof opened his mouth to shout back, but Gravis intervened just in time. He held up his hand and Karlof fell into begrudging silence. Gravis spoke.

“It’s alright to be afraid.”

“Except it’s not!” She shouted. “This is dumb, all of this is so dumb. I’m freaking out over practically nothing! And-... and I keep snapping at all of you, and man my brain just keeps going to the worst possible outcome!” Chamille began to ramble. “Listen, don’t tell anyone I’m saying all this shit, but damnit this is really freaking me out. Firstly, it’s fucking dark, secondly what if something horrible happened to Paleman and we’re just letting him sit down there! And, if something did happen...” she trailed off, frowning.

“What do you think happened?” Gravis asked gently, making his way over to her.

“Well, I don’t know.” She shrugged. “But just the thought that something bad happened to him makes me feel like shit. And... and Tox! She’s so close to him, I don’t know what she would do or how she would feel. I may not be too close with Paleman, but fuck, I’m close with Tox and whatever matters to her, matters to me.”

“Oh.” Shade said quietly. “I didn’t know you cared so much about others.” He added with a small smile.

“Oh you’re _real_ funny, Shade.” Chamille let out a quiet laugh, rubbing at her eye. “Never change.”

“ _Shhhhh!_ ” Jacob suddenly hushed, freezing in his spot.

“Are you fucking serious?” Chamille spat out. “This isn’t the fucking time, Jacob! Kinda having a touching moment here!”

“Shush!” He repeated, though his tone was much more serious. “I hear something.”

The group went quiet, including the reluctant Chamille with the help of a warning look from Gravis. Jacob strummed his sitar for a moment, listening carefully. His face dropped and he went pale.

“What is it?” Shade whispered.

Jacob slowly pointed a finger to the staircase leading to the basement, gulping before mustering out, “Something’s standing there.”

There was nothing. At least, nothing that they could see.

Chamille forced out a very uncomfortable laugh, speaking through gritted teeth as she slowly looked back to the master of sound. “That’s not funny, Jacob.”

“I wish I was joking, Chamille.” Jacob returned in a whisper of a similar tone, lowering his hand and clutching onto his sitar desperately.

Gravis hovered back over to Jacob, landing by his side and looking cautiously to the staircase. “This... thing, standing there. Can you get any details on it?”

“Uh, I can try.” Jacob steadied his hands again and strummed, focusing back onto the seemingly empty doorway. He pursed his lips after a moment. “Well, uh, shaped like a person.” Another strum. “Tall.”

“Oh absolutely _not!_ ” Chamille scrambled out of the chair to the back of the room, dipping behind Shade once more. “I may not believe in ghosts, but I’ve seen enough movies to know where that’s going!”

Karlof moved quickly once again, using his massive form to stand in between them all and the doorway where the figure supposedly stood. He huffed heavily like a bull and extended his arms out protectively.

“Do your worst, ghost! Karlof can beat you to pulp!” He shouted through his fear. Nothing responded. Jacob quickly ducked around the giant and played another chord, listening.

“It’s moved. It’s not there anymore.”

“Oh.” Karlof quickly straightened, though still stepped past Jacob so that he stood in between the group and the staircase still. “Well, that is good.”

“I’d like to disagree.” Shade said. “It means we don’t have any idea where the ghost is. None of us can see it, except Jacob, and even then he can only focus on so many areas at a time.”

“I can try!” Jacob beamed.

“Well... if you want.” Shade sighed. “Don’t tire yourself out, though.”

“So now what are we going to do?” Chamille hissed, peeking around Shade. “Now we know there’s a ghost that only Jacob can see, but what about Paleman? What about the fusebox?”

“Maybe—“ Karlof had begun, but was quickly cut off by a loud clunk. He stumbled forward one step but whipped around in a huff. After scanning the room with squinted eyes, he made an ‘oh’ noise and crouched down with a bit of effort. He grumbled angrily.

“What is it?” Gravis asked.

Karlof held up an unlit candle so that the others could see. “The ghost thinks throwing things at Karlof is funny game.” He straightened up and turned around, surprisingly calm yet still annoyed. There was another familiar clunk and Karlof only sighed, face deadpan. “Is not funny.”

However the others faces quickly had dropped, even with Shade who had paled into a stark white. Confusion crossed his face and opened his mouth slightly to ask, but Chamille simply pointed behind him. Karlof turned around slowly.

A meter back from the group, much closer than the staircase entity, was a floating, cloudy mass of grey that shifted and morphed constantly. It let out a rising and echoey cackle as it started floating towards them at an alarming speed. The elemental masters, the people of legend, did what anyone else would do in this situation.

They screamed.

—————————————————————————————

The fruitless attempts to open the backdoor to Neuro’s house were not going well. All of them had tried their very best at it, with Neuro giving in and letting Bolobo grow vines to try and open it as well. Even Skylor, using Karlof’s metal powers, couldn’t open it.

It was confusing, honestly.

Neuro had been giving it another go, in a desperate attempt to save his home from Tox’s idea of breaking in, when the screams of his fellow elemental masters rang out from inside the house. He stopped mid door handle tug, the blood draining from his face.

“Oh shit!” Griffin exclaimed, stumbling away from the house. “What the hell was that?!”

“Screams...” Bolobo uttered, “Neuro, why are they screaming? Can you tell what’s going on?”

“I um...” Neuro pondered for a moment, his mental arguments and thoughts clearly shown on his face. “I can try.”

They didn’t make a noise as Neuro put his hands to his temples, closing his eyes in concentration. He mumbled quietly to himself as his concentration seemed to become more and more difficult, before sputtering and opening his eyes.

“Well?” Tox asked.

“I can’t make much out, sadly.” Neuro sighed, nervously looking back to the house. “I can tell they’re scared, obviously, of something in particular. It isn’t the fear you’d get from a horror movie, but genuine terror. There are too many thoughts going on and they’re too far away, so I’m afraid that is all I know.”

“Do you think someone broke in?” Skylor asked quickly, the thoughts of the warm lights from the living room popping into her memory.

“I wouldn’t think so. I keep my house locked up very well.”

“That’s obvious.” Bolobo scoffed. “We can’t even get back in.”

“And even if someone did, Karlof woulda knocked them out in an instant.” Griffin added. Neuro acknowledged him with a nod, finally turning to them with remorse in his eyes. He seemed to steady himself before speaking again, his eyes on one person in particular.

“Tox?” He asked quietly.

“I don’t have to be a mind reader to know what you’re going to ask.” She said. “I’ll save you the pain of having to say it. I know what to do.” Tox walked up to Neuro and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “I promise I won’t break anything.” She added, and with that she hopped onto a nearby bannister surrounding the backdoor, climbing with ease onto the small roof above.

She steadied herself for a moment, before straightening up and eyeing her surroundings. There was nothing besides a scarily thin windowsill, leading to a singular window. Without wasting a second, Tox moved with a surprising amount of grace as she jumped to the windowsill, landing silently and without a single stumble. The others watched in awe, and in fear for Neuro’s case, from below as she tampered very carefully with the window itself, with precision and speed. At one point she may have pulled out a pocket knife, but it was too hard to tell from the ground.

In the matter of a minute or two, Tox slipped the window open and hopped in, taking a seat on the sill. “Sorry if that took long!” She called down, but smirked in a way that showed she knew that she didn’t. “And Neuro, your window is in the same condition as I found it.”

“That was badass!” Griffin laughed out, speeding up to the small roof. “You gotta teach me how to do that some time!”

“I’m gonna second that.” Skylor smiled, hopping onto the bannister and climbing onto the roof with a similar grace to Tox.

“Heh. I might.” Tox snickered before disappearing into Neuro’s home completely. Neuro let out a long sigh, dragging his hand down his face before balancing himself cautiously on the railing.

“Bolobo. Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“If I fall, _please_ catch me.” He said but added on in a grumble as he reached up for the roof, “I’m getting too old for this...”

“Sure thing. I bet you won’t even need me.” Bolobo lied as he already began preparing the vines to catch the other man. “And honestly, I’m more concerned as to how Tox even knew how to do that in the first place.”

“It may be best if we don’t know.”


	6. Unison

No one could move. It was if they were frozen to the very ground they stood on by some invisible force, like cement had been poured onto their feet. And yet, their adrenaline and the urge run was stronger than ever. It increased in each of them as the ghostly cloud inched closer and closer, the noxious smell of sulfur filling the air. Chamille fought back her gag reflex.

“Get back!” She shouted from behind the others, looking around Shade. “Or else!”

The mass moved forward slightly and laughed in a challenging way as if it were saying ‘ _or else what?_ ’. 

“Chamille don’t threaten a ghost—“ Gravis began to warn but Chamille found her words.

“We’ll make you regret coming here and harassing us!” She turned around and frantically looked about before her eyes lit up in glee. Looking back in front of the group, Chamille stuck out her hand behind her. “Quick! Give me that vase with the flowers!”

Jacob was the one to grab it after a quick strum to find it, placing it in Chamille’s hand gently. “Why?”

“Because,” she huffed with a cocky smile, steadying her arm, “I may not have believed in ghosts, but I heard what the ninja said about them!” With a sudden movement, Chamille dashed out from behind Shade and in front of Karlof, winding up her arm and launching the vase forward. “How’d you like some water, you phantom fuckwit!”

The piece of pottery flew through the air in what felt like slow motion. Jacob had initially taken the flowers out before giving it to Chamille, but that didn’t diminue the mess. The vase spiralled towards the shadowy mass, spraying water on it as it flew. Time snapped back to normal as it collided onto the wall with a crash, shattering to the ground.

“Oh, Neuro is _not_ going to like that.” Shade whispered.

The floating mass flickered for a moment like a candle in the wind, dimming and becoming more transparent with each flicker. Everyone watched in a tense silence as it began to fall to floor as if it were going to dissipate, but swirled into a vortex a few centimetres off the ground, becoming more and more like smoke. With a loud laugh, it shot upwards, reforming into an only larger clump of ashy darkness.

“New plan.” Karlof said, grabbing Chamille and pushing her towards the staircase leading to the upper floor. “ _RUN!_ ” 

None of them wasted a second, charging past the ghost and sprinting up the stairs with Karlof bringing up the rear.

“What’s the point of going upstairs?!” Shade asked.

“Is better than downstairs!” Karlof exclaimed, looking over his shoulder and gasping. “Keep moving! Ghost is getting closer!”

“It’s _chasing_ us?!” Chamille yelled.

“ _Yes!_ ”

No more breath was spent with that, Karlof continuing to push everyone up until they got the second floor. They made a mad and blind dash down the darkened hall, with the light of the moon and stars through the windows being their only guide. Chamille, who had been in the lead of the group, suddenly sent them all careening to a halt as she stumbled backwards and screamed.

“I fucking touched something! There’s- there are more things here!” She was on the verge of tears as she backed into Shade in a panic. Surely enough, standing in the dimly lit hall was a group of five figures, who seemed equally as shocked as the others.

“What is going on?!” One spoke in a stern voice, stepping into the light. The figure was older, with white and black hair shining in the starlight. As more details were revealed, it soon became clear that it was actually Neuro, face screwed up in confusion and his arms crossed over his chest. “Why are the lights off?” With the reveal of Neuro, the other four stepped forwards, showing Griffin, Skylor, Tox, and Bolobo.

At the last question, the first group looked slowly at Karlof. Karlof forced a smile. “Karlof punched fusebox.”

“You punched my- _why_ would you do that?!” Neuro stammered. “And that doesn’t answer my first question! Firstly, you locked us out of my house, then we heard screaming, we managed to get in and heard something break, and now this?”

“There’s a ghost!” Chamille yelled and fought back the obvious wobble in her voice, inching towards Tox and using her as a new shield against the stairs.

“A ghost?” Skylor asked, sending a small look to Neuro. Neuro’s frown deepened and he sighed, rubbing his temples.

“Or something else.” Gravis added warily, glancing over his shoulder to the stairs. “We tried to use water against it, and were unsuccessful.”

Neuro sighed louder and his levels of stress were almost audible, like a boiling kettle on the verge of whistling.

“It started chasing us!” Jacob exclaimed. “And that’s not all! I think they’re seeing something different from what I found, because earlier, there was a tall figure standing by the basement stairs!”

“None of us could see that one.” Shade said. “Not gonna lie, fucking terrifying.”

“So there’s two ghosts?” Bolobo asked.

“Oh fuck, I didn’t even think of that!” Chamille yelled hopelessly.

“And even worse,” Karlof dropped his voice to a whisper, moving further away from the stairs. “Paleman went down to basement to fix fusebox, and hasn’t come back. He has not responded to us since.”

Tox straightened to attention at that. “And none of you went to check on him?”

“We kinda went into survival instincts at that point.” Jacob said. Tox growled and narrowed her eyes at the stairs.

“I’m going down there.”

“Now hold up!” Griffin interrupted, moving between everyone and the staircase. “Listen, this is all kinda weird and really freaky, but we can figure this out! I can go down there and check the first floor for ghosts, and even check the basement if you want. It’ll literally only take me one second.”

No one had a chance to say anything against him, as Griffin already had sped down in the blink of an eye, leaving them in an uncomfortable atmosphere thick with emotion. Chamille had shifted to Tox’s side, leaning into her and muttering.

“I know what I saw...”

“I believe you.” Tox sighed and nodded, wrapping her arm around Chamille’s shoulders.

“There’s nothin’ down here!” Griffin cried out from downstairs. “Just some candles, lanterns, and a broken vase.”

Neuro stammered again and marched past everyone, going down the stairs. “A broken vase?!” There was a pause once he got to the ground floor before another exclamation could be heard. “Why is my couch _there?!_ ”

Slowly but surely, the newly joined group ventured down with varying levels of emotions, from reluctance, to confusion, to determination. When the first group of elemental masters had made their getaway, nothing had been displaced besides from what Karlof and Chamille did. And perhaps most importantly, there was no sign of the smoky and shadowy mass that had been terrorizing them earlier.

Neuro stood in the center of the room, clearly fighting back his fuming anger. “There’s nothing here.” He voice was icy.

“We’re not shitting you, there was something here. Ghost or something else, we don’t know, but there was something here.” Shade reiterated.

“Can’t you like, do a scan of the room with your mind powers to see if there’s something here?” Chamille asked. Neuro let out a slow sigh, nodding.

“Give me a moment.” He closed his eyes and placed a hand on the side of his head, concentrating once more. No one spoke and time seemed to slow once more. After half a minute, he made a quiet ‘ _hm_ ’ noise and nodded, opening his eyes. “Just as I suspected, there’s nothing here.”

“But we saw something!” Chamille stammered. “If you don’t trust me, just ask Gravis. Gravis—“ she turned to him “—we saw something, right?”

He gave a solemn nod. “We did.”

“ _See?!_ ” Chamille turned back to Neuro. “Something was here! Plus, I wouldn’t just break your vase for no reason!”

“Yes you would.”

There was a pause. “Alright, you got me, but there would still be a reason! Like, I dunno, anarchy or some shit.”

“Hey guys—“ Jacob started after a small strum on his sitar.

“But the point is, there was something here, Neuro!”

“Guys—“

“Chamille, I want to believe you, I really do. But there’s nothing here.”

“ _Guys!_ ” 

The masters of form and mind stopped and looked to Jacob. “What?” They asked in unison.

“You remember the tall figure I mentioned earlier?”

Everyone froze. Skylor was the one who answered. “Yeah?” She gulped. “Please don’t tell me...”

“It’s back.” He said, pointing by the basement door. While still invisible to the naked eye, there was a single indicator of the tall figure’s presence: a single lit lantern, hovering midair. It didn’t move but simply stayed in place, held by the unseen foe.

But that wasn’t the only thing by the basement door. A familiar, shadowy and greyish vortex slowly began to form on the floor right next to the lantern. It shifted and flickered, shooting around the room at a speed Griffin was familiar with and snuffing out all the candles in a single go. The room was lit solely by the hovering lantern. The entity morphed back into its nightmarish form, dashing to the lantern’s side.

“Holy First Spinjitzu Master...” Neuro whispered in a quivering voice, stumbling backwards. “You-... you were right.” 

Chamille clung onto Tox in a tight hug, shoving her face into the side of her chest and whimpering out, “We’re doomed.”


	7. Smoke and Mirrors

All was hopeless. The group of mighty elemental masters had been practically rendered defenceless and left in the dark by the pair of phantoms. Maybe if things had gone differently, if the elemental masters had been prepared, or even if Neuro, Tox, and Griffin hadn’t left in the first place, the situation at hand could have been prevented. Or maybe if Paleman hadn’t gone into the basement, he could’ve still been present and blinded the ghosts, giving the elemental masters the upper hand. 

But no, it was the present, and the group had been backed into the far wall of the living room by the floating lantern and cloudy entity. Karlof tried desperately to act as a living shield, shoving himself in the space between the other elemental masters and the ghosts.

“Please.” He started and narrowed his eyes. “Do not attack others. Fight Karlof instead. Karlof is not afraid.”

“In fact, we don’t even have to fight!” Neuro piped up. “We, er, can make a bargain! Of some sort—“

“We got money!” Jacob interrupted. “You want that?” Neither ghost moved or reacted.

“I can grow a massive garden for you?” Bolobo asked. Still no response.

“Uh... free noodles?” Skylor offered, flashing a half-smile. The floating entity looked like it straightened for a moment, moving closer with intrigue. “Shit, I didn’t expect that to work.” She whispered.

“Can ghosts even eat—“ Griffin began but was swiftly cut off by the cacophonous laughter of the cloudy entity, who rose steadily up in the air.

Much to the horror of the elemental masters, it began to shift and contort slowly into a humanoid shape. With each passing second, it became more and more human-like with its laughter becoming less muddled and more clear, like adjusting a radio station. While wisps of smoke escaped from its body, it placed its feet on the ground with a heavy, solid thud. Everyone flinched. It cackled in a voice clear as day, which then quickly turned into a wheeze.

“Wait a second...” Shade whispered as his eyes widened in recognition, but never continued as the entity’s features began to slowly appear in the dim lantern light. It had an angular face, with pale, tawny skin. Smoky grey hair topped its head, and...

It doubled over in a fit of childish laughter.

It was now very clear what, or better yet _who_ , this entity was.

“Ash?” Shade asked, jaw dropping. Surely enough, Ash — who now had fallen onto his knees in his laughter — grinned up at them all with a cheeky smile.

“You shoulda seen the looks on your faces!” He howled, pointing to them all. He was giddy. 

Shock had practically stolen everyone’s voice.

“You fucking _asshole!_ ” 

Well, almost everyone.

Chamille dashed out and lunged forwards, rage filling every inch of her tiny being as she collided into Ash, pinning him to the ground. Ash fell silent and his eyes widened, only to laugh harder and poof out from underneath her and reform by the lantern.

“You think you’re funny?!” She exclaimed, frantically pushing herself off the ground.

“Yeah!” He wheezed. “That was fuckin’ hilarious! You all screamed like a bunch of little kids!” Ash cackled again, holding onto his stomach. However Chamille’s rage quickly turned onto Neuro. She marched up to him and jabbed him in the chest with her finger.

“And-... and what about you?! You said there was nothing here! You _lied_ to us! Why?!”

Neuro raised his hands up innocently, his smile being oddly smug on his usually neutral face. “And you broke my vase. I deemed it only necessary.”

“Damn,” Skylor laughed, “you’re good at lying. You looked genuinely terrified back there.”

“What can I say?” Neuro smirked. “After living your entire life as the master of the mind, you learn very quickly how to pretend you don’t know certain things.”

A distrustful look was shared among the elemental masters at that, besides the still laughing Ash. Chamille sputtered and quickly pointed to the still floating lantern. “Well explain _that!_ ”

The lantern jolted slightly before landing on the ground, but in a manner similar to someone putting something down in a rush. The air around the lantern — stopping at around six feet in the air — shimmered like a mirage, wiggling and vibrating as a tall figure was revealed. The large, wide brimmed hat, golden sunglasses, and maroon blazer with matching pants confirmed everyone’s forming suspicions.

“Pale!” Tox cried out with a smile, rushing over and hugging onto him. “I thought something happened to you!” He tensed and forced out a small laugh, patting Tox’s back awkwardly. Meeting the glares and confused looks of the others over her shoulder, he shrunk down into his jacket.

“I uh... I’m fine. Promise.”

“Friend!” Karlof let out a booming laugh, his fear and anger melting away at the sight of the invisible man. “Good to see you well!” He walked over, squeezing both Tox and Paleman in a very tight hug while simultaneously lifting them both off the ground.

“So why’d you do it?” Griffin asked, leaning on Bolobo’s shoulder. “The pranking part. Ain’t like you!”

“Heh, well,” Paleman said in a strained voice from Karlof’s bear hug, “I had gone into the basement to fix the fusebox, since I have a little bit of knowledge about technology and stuff. Well, I got down there and Ash scared the shit out of me, acting like a ghost or something. We kinda laughed it off until he asked if I wanted to help. It had been awhile since I uh... had fun like that, and plus I was still feeling a bit annoyed at Chamille, so... yeah.”

“Dang man, you really came for blood, huh?” He snickered.

“I guess?”

“Well...” Gravis sighed in relief, smiling, “I am glad this is now over. How about we all put this behind us, hm?”

“Sounds good!” Ash said, sending a smug smile in Chamille’s direction.

“Of course _you_ would say that.” Chamille grumbled with her back turned to them, whipping her head around. “Oh, and Ash? I’m gonna get you back for this. You too Paleman.”

“Would uh...” Paleman had pried himself out of Karlof’s hug and approached her carefully, “would an apology help?”

“Maybe.”

Once tensions had fallen, laughter and warmth soon filled the house as the elemental masters lit the candles and lanterns once more. The drinks Neuro, Tox, and Griffin had originally went to find were brought in, as well with the edition of some snacks. The couch was returned back to its place, the chair as well, and the shards of the vase were cleaned up by the willing members of the crew. While Neuro had grumbled still about his fusebox, especially at the news that Paleman couldn’t do anything about it, the others agreed to pitch in to pay for someone to come and fix it. Later, of course, as there was a party to be held.

Honestly it wasn’t much of a party at this point, but more of a get together. Neuro was more than happy to call it that anyways.

On a cool and calm summer night, the elemental masters were gathered under one roof, unified once more. No matter the conflict, or conflicting personalities, unity was possible. Even if Ash pretended to be a ghost and convinced Paleman to join in. Even if Karlof insisted on hugging Paleman much more tightly than anyone would be comfortable with. Even with Chamille, who kept sending scheming looks and glares in Ash’s general direction. And even with the knowledge that Neuro was a very good actor.

There was peace and unity.

“So,” Bolobo said as he sat down on the couch, “this will be an interesting story to tell the ninja. Tricked by our own allies.” He chuckled warmly.

“Ah, for once we’ll be the story tellers.” Neuro said and then added, “But can we please leave out the part about my tire? They don’t need to know about that.”

“Wait, what?” Shade asked as he fought back a smile. “What’s up with your tire?”

Griffin began to snicker and sat forward, practically on the edge of his seat. “Well you see, we were driving and—“

Neuro dragged his hand down his face. “Griffin, _please_ , not again.”

Well... at least peace and unity was a possibility.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven’t had this much fun writing a story in a long time. Hope everyone enjoyed!


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